


A chronicler finds a subject

by epersonae



Series: The Journal-Keeper [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Relationship, practical applications of magic, woodworking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 05:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10691034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epersonae/pseuds/epersonae
Summary: I've been thinking a lot about what might've happened when Travis rolled that 2 for Magnus to try to bond with Lucretia in episode 60. It doesn't go great. (This might even be one of a series? I can definitely see him being a semi-accidental pest.) Apologies in advance for what feels like some sort of awkward writing.





	A chronicler finds a subject

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking a lot about what might've happened when Travis rolled that 2 for Magnus to try to bond with Lucretia in episode 60. It doesn't go great. (This might even be one of a series? I can definitely see him being a semi-accidental pest.) Apologies in advance for what feels like some sort of awkward writing.

After everyone left, Lucretia felt adrift.

Merle and Davenport had headed out in search of the Light of Creation. She considered asking to go along; it seemed like a journey to chronicle. But she wasn't sure if she was ready yet for the likely hardships of hiking across an unknown land.

Then Barry and the twins started on a series of excursions to understand the animal language, and while she was somewhat clever with language, she was intimidated by the combined intensities of their intelligence, experience, and the twins' sharp wits.

But that left her alone on the ship without anything in particular to chronicle.

Well, not alone. Magnus had also stayed behind; to keep an eye on the ship, he said. She regarded him somewhat skeptically as a companion, though. Yes, he'd "defended her honor" or whatever at that bar the night before the launch. But guys who looked like Magnus Burnsides were usually not too great to gals who acted like Lucretia. So she kept her distance while he did pullups on trees or poked at the hull or whatever.

***

Lucretia put on her raincape, gathered her a couple of journals and a fist full of pencils, and walked out into the woods. Eventually she came upon a lake, just as the light rain came to a stop, and found a stump that wasn't too waterlogged.

She cast Floating Disc and laid open both journals on the invisible surface so she could start describing the scene. A pair of ducks swam towards her, and she began to sketch them. So far it seemed that while the mammals were fully sentient, birds here were much as they were in the world they'd come from. She fell deep into concentration as she sketched, trying to capture the elaborate plumage of the male's crest.

"Hail and well met!" She had missed the sound of Magnus crashing through the underbrush, but at his call of welcome, the birds leapt into the air. She glared at him. "Hey, how'd you get your books to float like that?"

She can barely contain her irritation.

"Floating disc spell."

"Oh, that's clever. I was thinking maybe I could harvest some lumber and build you a traveling desk, but that's way cooler." He poked at the invisible surface and ran his hand out to its edge. "Wow, it feels really study! How much weight does it hold?"

She gave the textbook answer before thinking: "Spec says it's rated for up to 500 pounds."

"Cool!" Before she could say another word, Magnus jumped up so that he was standing on her carefully cast Floating Disc.

Hey! Don't! That's...I didn't..." She slammed both journals shut. "Magnus, I was trying to work."

The look of goofy delight slipped from his face.

"Oh." He jumped off as nimbly as he'd jumped on. "I'm sorry."

While she tried to decide whether to give up entirely and go back to the ship, he sprinted off and returned with a seat-sized log.

"Can I sit with you while you work? I won't...I mean...I'm really sorry."

And his expression was so sincere that she couldn't say no. She sat down and reopened the journals, but with the ducks gone, she wasn't sure how to get back into a groove. So she started by just describing exactly what had happened. And then with sidelong glances, what Magnus looked like sitting next to her, watching the lake in front of them. It was meta, she had to admit, but she was comfortable with meta. And more comfortable with sideways glances than conversation.

After a little while, the ducks returned, flapping back into the pond and drifting in circles, pecking at unseen tidbits on the water's surface. But by then Lucretia had switched to Magnus as the subject of his sketching, and Magnus had taken a chunk of wood and a folding knife out of his pocket, between them creating a record of this little moment.

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of like to imagine this as the origin of all those whittled ducks.


End file.
